Electronic Device With Flexible Display Structures

ABSTRACT

An electronic device may have a flexible display. The electronic device may have housing portions that are rotatably coupled to each other so that the flexible display may fold along one or more bend axes. A device may have rollers that store a flexible display and that help deploy the display from within a housing when additional display area is desired. A touch screen in a housing may be overlapped by a flexible display that has been scrolled outwardly from the housing. Wireless transmitter and receiver circuitry may be used to convey image data to display driver circuitry. The display driver circuitry may display images on a pixel array in a flexible display based on the image data. Magnets may be used to outwardly bias edge-mounted bistable support structures to help prevent a rolled flexible display from wrinkling.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/840,750, filed Dec. 13, 2017, which claims the benefit of provisionalpatent application No. 62/442,318, filed Jan. 4, 2017, which are herebyincorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

This relates generally to electronic devices, and, more particularly, toelectronic devices with displays.

Electronic devices such as laptop computers, cellular telephones, andother equipment are often provided with displays. Displays containarrays of pixels that present images to a user. Displays are oftenformed from rigid structures such as glass substrates. This can make itchallenging to form compact electronic devices with desired features.

SUMMARY

An electronic device may have a flexible display. The electronic devicemay have housing structure in which printed circuit boards, electricalcomponents, and other structures are mounted. In some configurations,rollers may be mounted within an electronic device housing.

A flexible display may be wrapped around one or more rollers. In astored position, the flexible display may be wrapped around a storageroller. Optional deployment rollers may be used to help deploy thedisplay as the display is pulled out of the housing. A flexible displaymay be viewable through a transparent housing window before and afterthe flexible display is pulled out of the housing.

An electronic device may have first and second housing portions and aflexible display that can be either stored in one or both housingportions or that may be scrolled out to form a planar display surfacethat extends between housing portions. Elongated bistable supportmembers may run along the edges of the display or may be overlapped by acentral active area of the display to help stiffen and support thedisplay in its extended position. Magnets may be used to outwardly biasedge-mounted bistable support structures and thereby help prevent arolled flexible display from wrinkling.

The electronic device may have housing portions that are rotatablycoupled to each other with hinges or other bendable structures so thatthe flexible display may fold along the bend axes. Magnets may be usedto releasably couple the housing portions to each other. Movable supportstructures such as movable members coupled by springs or other flexiblestructures may be move between first and second positions. When thedevice is unfolded and the flexible display is planar and unfolded, themovable support structures may be moved towards the bend axis to supportthe flexible display. When the device is folded, the movable supportstructures may be moved away from the bend axis to help allow theflexible display and device to fold about the bend axis.

An electronic device may have both rigid and flexible displays. A rigiddisplay such as a touch screen display may be mounted in the housing andmay serve as a virtual keyboard. A flexible display that is stored on aroller in the housing may be pulled out from the display when it isdesired to provide a user with expanded display area. The flexibledisplay may have a first surface with a pixel array that displays imagesand an opposing second surface that serves as a protective outercovering layer when the flexible display overlaps the touch screendisplay. The flexible display may be supported at a diagonal angle withrespect to the touch screen display or other suitable angle.

Wireless transmitter and receiver circuitry in an electronic device maybe used to convey image data to display driver circuitry in the device.The display driver circuitry may display images on a pixel array in aflexible display in the device based on the image data.

Further features will be more apparent from the accompanying drawingsand the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative electronic devicehaving a display in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an illustrative device having with aflexible display extended between housing structures in accordance withan embodiment.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are cross-sectional side views of edge portions ofillustrative electronic device displays in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of an electronic devicedisplay that has a supporting member and a pixel array layer that arewrapped around an axis in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a top view of an illustrative electronic device with aflexible display and wireless circuitry in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 7 is a side view of an illustrative trifold electronic device inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an illustrative support member formedfrom two oppositely oriented bistable strips in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 9 is top view of an illustrative electronic device with a scrollingdisplay and protective end caps in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an illustrative end cap in accordancewith an embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronicdevice in a folded configuration in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional side view of the illustrative electronicdevice of FIG. 11 in an unfolded configuration in accordance with anembodiment.

FIGS. 13 and 14 are cross-sectional side views of an electronic devicewith pushing members in respective unfolded and folded states inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a side view of an illustrative electronic device with ascrolling flexible display and a rigid display such as a rigid touchscreen display in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronicdevice with a scrolling display deployed from beneath a transparenthousing window member in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronicdevice with a scrolling flexible display deployed using multipleinternal rollers in accordance with an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Electronic devices may be provided with displays. The displays mayinclude flexible displays. Flexible displays may be bent about a bendaxis to allow an electronic device to be folded and may be rolled aroundrollers. This allows the flexible display to be stored in an electronicdevice housing when a compact device arrangement is desired and to bepulled from within the electronic device housing when an enlargeddisplay area is desired. An electronic device may incorporate bothfoldable and scrollable displays or may have foldable displays and/orscrollable displays in a housing that also includes one or more rigiddisplays.

An illustrative electronic device of the type that may be provided witha flexible display is shown in FIG. 1. Electronic device 10 may be acomputing device such as a laptop computer, a computer monitorcontaining an embedded computer, a tablet computer, a cellulartelephone, a media player, or other handheld or portable electronicdevice, a smaller device such as a wristwatch device, a pendant device,a headphone or earpiece device, a device embedded in eyeglasses or otherequipment worn on a user's head, or other wearable or miniature device,a television, a computer display that does not contain an embeddedcomputer, a gaming device, a navigation device, an embedded system suchas a system in which electronic equipment with a display is mounted in akiosk or automobile, equipment that implements the functionality of twoor more of these devices, or other electronic equipment.

As shown in FIG. 1, electronic device 10 may have control circuitry 16.Control circuitry 16 may include storage and processing circuitry forsupporting the operation of device 10. The storage and processingcircuitry may include storage such as hard disk drive storage,nonvolatile memory (e.g., flash memory or otherelectrically-programmable-read-only memory configured to form a solidstate drive), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamicrandom-access-memory), etc. Processing circuitry in control circuitry 16may be used to control the operation of device 10. The processingcircuitry may be based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers,digital signal processors, baseband processors, power management units,audio chips, application specific integrated circuits, etc.

Input-output circuitry in device 10 such as input-output devices 18 maybe used to allow data to be supplied to device 10 and to allow data tobe provided from device 10 to external devices. Input-output devices 18may include buttons, joysticks, scrolling wheels, touch pads, key pads,keyboards, microphones, speakers, tone generators, vibrators, cameras,light-emitting diodes and other status indicators, data ports, etc.Input-output devices 18 may include sensors such as an ambient lightsensor, a capacitive proximity sensor, a light-based proximity sensor, amagnetic sensor, an accelerometer, a force sensor, a touch sensor, atemperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a compass, a microphone or othersound sensor, or other sensors. A user can control the operation ofdevice 10 by supplying commands through input-output devices 18 and mayreceive status information and other output from device 10 using theoutput resources of input-output devices 18.

Input-output devices 18 may include one or more displays such as display14. Display 14 may be a touch screen display that includes a touchsensor for gathering touch input from a user or display 14 may beinsensitive to touch. A touch sensor for display 14 may be based on anarray of capacitive touch sensor electrodes, acoustic touch sensorstructures, resistive touch components, force-based touch sensorstructures, a light-based touch sensor, or other suitable touch sensorarrangements.

Display 14 may be an organic light-emitting diode display or otherlight-emitting diode display, a liquid crystal display, a plasmadisplay, an electrowetting display, an electrophoretic display, or othersuitable display. Device 10 may include one or more flexible displaysand/or rigid displays. A flexible display (e.g., an organiclight-emitting diode display formed on a sheet of polymer or otherflexible substrate and/or other flexible display pixel array structures)may be used to permit device 10 to be bent (e.g., folded) and/or toallow display 14 to be scrolled (e.g., to allow the visible area ofdisplay 14 to be expanded by moving display 14 in or out of a housingusing a roller).

A perspective view of device 10 in an illustrative configuration inwhich device 10 has a housing 12 formed from two housing portions suchas left housing portion 12A and right housing portion 12B and ascrolling flexible display 14 that extends between the left and rightportions is shown in FIG. 2. Device housing 12, which may sometimes bereferred to as an enclosure or case, may be formed of plastic, glass,ceramics, fiber composites, metal (e.g., stainless steel, aluminum,etc.), other suitable materials, or a combination of any two or more ofthese materials. Housing structures 12A and 12B may be formed using aunibody configuration in which some or all structures 12A and 12B aremachined or molded as unitary structures or may be formed using multiplestructures (e.g., an internal frame structure, one or more structuresthat form exterior housing surfaces, etc.). If desired, the housing ofdevice 10 may have a single body (e.g., when device 10 is a cellulartelephone, tablet computer, wristwatch device, etc.) or may havemultiple body portions that are coupled by one or more hinges (e.g., ina laptop computer, a bifold or trifold device, or other device withfoldable portions, etc.).

Housing structures 12A and/or 12B may be hollow. For example, housingstructures 12A and/or 12B of FIG. 2 may contain internal rollers thatallow display 14 to be rolled up and stored within housing structures12A and 12B when display 14 is not in use. In this stored state, display14 will be protected from damage. When it is desired to deploy display14 for use, housing structures 12A and 12B may be pulled apart as shownin FIG. 2, thereby causing display 14 to scroll off of the internalroller(s) used to store display 14 within housing structures 12A and12B.

Because display 14 is flexible in configurations of the type shown inFIG. 2, it may be desirable to provide display 14 with supportstructures. With one illustrative configuration, edge portions IA (e.g.,inactive border strips of display 14 or other portions of display 14)may overlap bistable support structures such as strips of metal tapewith curved cross sections. Central portion AA of display 14, which maysometimes be referred to as forming an active area of display 14, mayhave an array of pixels that displays images for a user and may or maynot be supported by bistable support structures. The bistable supportstructures under inactive areas IA and/or under active area AA ofdisplay 14 may sometimes be referred to as bistable structures, bistabletape, or elongated bistable members. Bistable support structures may beformed from metal, plastic, or other suitable materials. Bistablesupport structures for display 14 may be stiff and supportive whendeployed into the configuration of FIG. 2 while being flexible enoughwhen sufficient bending force is applied to allow the bistable supportstructures to be rolled onto a roller when it is desired to retractdisplay 14 into housing structures 12A and/or 12B.

A cross-sectional view of an illustrative edge portion of display 14taken along line 24 of FIG. 2 and viewed in direction 26 is shown inFIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 3, pixel array 14P (e.g., a flexible layer withan array of organic light-emitting diode pixels) may be located incentral active area AA of display 14. Inactive area IA along the edgesof display 14 may include substrate material 30 and bistable tape 32.Substrate material 30 may include, for example, one or more flexiblepolymer layers and may have a portion that is wrapped around bistabletape 32. FIG. 4 shows how bistable tape 32 may, if desired, lie in aplane that is perpendicular to the surface of display pixel array 14P.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional side view of electronic device 10 of FIG. 2taken along line 36 and viewed in direction 38. In the arrangement ofFIG. 5, flexible pixel array 14P (e.g., an organic light-emitting diodedisplay layer), supporting substrate 30 (e.g., a flexible polymer) andbistable tape 32 (e.g., metal tape such as ferromagnetic tape) have beenrolled up for storage inside the interior of housing structures 12B.When wound around a roller as shown in FIG. 5, the cross-sectionalcurvature of tape 32 become flattened, allowing tape 32 to flex. Housingstructures 12B may include structures such as housing wall 12B′ thatsurround and enclose the rolled up substrate 30, pixel array 14P(display 14), and metal tape 32). As shown in FIG. 5, magnet 40 may bemounted on an end portion of wall 12B′ (inside or outside of housing 12)and may magnetically attract metal tape 32. This pulls tape 32 outwardlyin direction 42 and helps ensure that tape 32 remains near to the end ofhousing structures 12B, thereby preventing pixel array 14P and substrate30 from wrinkling.

FIG. 6 is a top view of device 10 in an illustrative configuration inwhich the housing for device 10 has a main portion (housing structure12-1) and has a smaller portion (housing structure 12-2) that is used asa support bar to help pull flexible display 14 off of a roller withinthe interior of structures 12-1. Bistable support strips such as tape 32may be used to help support flexible display 14 when flexible display 14is in its deployed state as shown in FIG. 6.

Device 10 of FIG. 6 and the other FIGS. may include electricalcomponents 44. Electrical components 44 may include integrated circuits,sensors, connectors, batteries, audio circuits, speakers, microphones,and other input-output devices and control circuitry. Electricalcomponents 44 may be mounted on one or more substrates (e.g., printedcircuits). Substrates for mounting components 44 may be formed fromplastic, glass, ceramic, other dielectric materials, printed circuitstructures (e.g., rigid printed circuits formed from fiberglass-filledepoxy or other rigid printed circuit material and/or flexible printedcircuits formed from flexible layers of polyimide or sheets of otherpolymer substrate materials), or other substrate material.

Display 14 may have a pixel array such as pixel array 14P formed frompixels 46 (e.g., organic light-emitting diode pixels, etc.). Components44 may include integrated circuits and/or thin-film transistor circuitrysuch as display driver circuitry 44D that is coupled to pixel array 14Pof display 14 and that is used in providing data and control signals topixels 46. If desired, display driver circuit 44D may be mounted inhousing structure 12-2.

To reduce or eliminate signal lines that are bent during the scrollingof display 14, components 44 may include wireless communicationscircuitry such as wireless communications circuits 44T and 44R. Duringoperation, image data from a processor or other control circuitry instructure 12-1 may be transmitted wirelessly by a wirelesscommunications circuit transmitter in circuit 44T (a wirelesstransmitter circuit) and may be received by corresponding a wirelesscommunications receiver in circuit 44R (a wireless receiver circuit). Ifdesired, touch sensor signals may be gathered using a component 44 inhousing structure 12-2 and transmitted wirelessly back to a processor inhousing structure 12-1 (e.g., circuit 44R may include a wirelesstransmitter and circuit 44T may include a corresponding wirelessreceiver).

In the illustrative example of FIG. 7, electronic device 10 has afoldable configuration. As shown in FIG. 7, device 10 may have a housingsuch as housing 12 with bend regions 50. In general, device 10 may haveany suitable number of bend region 50 (e.g., one or more, two or more,three or more, etc.). FIG. 7 shows how there may be two bend regions 50in housing 12, so that housing 12 may be folded in a trifoldconfiguration (e.g., a configuration in which device 10 is made up ofthree overlapping planar housing portions). Bend facilitation structures52 (e.g., voids, locally elastic structures, etc.) may be placed inhousing 12 at bend regions 50 to facilitate folding of housing 12 anddevice 10 along bend axes aligned respectively with bend regions 50.Flexible displays 14 may be located on one or more of the surfaces ofthe portions of housing 12. For example, a first flexible display maycover some or all of surface T of housing 12 and/or a second flexibledisplay may overlap some or all of opposing surface B of housing 12.Magnets 54, hinge detents, and/or other closure mechanisms may be usedto help hold device 10 in its folded state. When a user such as viewer54 desires to expand the visible portion of the flexible display,housing 12 and display(s) 14 may be unfolded and placed in a planarconfiguration in which each of the trifold sections of housing 12 anddevice 10 are coplanar.

If desired, bistable support structures such as illustrative bistablesupport member (metal tape) 56 may run along the edges of housing 12 ofFIG. 7. Portion 56-1 of member 56 may be formed from metal or othersuitable material with a cross-sectional shape that is curved downwardsin direction 58 about axis 60 and portion 56-2 may have an oppositecross-sectional shape curvature (e.g., portion 56-2 may be formed frommetal that is curved in direction 62 about axis 64). Adhesive, welds,fasteners, or other fastening structures may be used to join portions(segments) 56-1 and 56-2 of member 56 together at attachment region 64as shown in FIG. 8 before assembling member 56 into housing 12 of FIG.7.

FIG. 9 is a top view of device 10 in an illustrative configuration inwhich device 10 has protective end cap structures such as end caps 66.Flexible displays such as display 14 may be mounted on one or both sidesof housing 12. Device 10 of FIG. 9 may, as an example, be a trifolddevice of the type shown in FIG. 7. When in a folded configuration ofthe type shown in FIG. 9, end caps 66 may be moved into a position thathelps hold the folds of device 10 into place and thereby preventsunintentional unfolding.

A perspective view of device 10 and an illustrative endcap 66 is shownin FIG. 10. As shown in FIG. 10, end cap 66 may be mounted on part ofhousing 12 such as portions 68. Protrusions 70 of end cap 66 may, forexample, be received within portions 68 so that end cap 66 may berotated about axis 72. End cap 66 may be rotated about axis 72 indirection 74 when it is desired to place end cap 66 in the display andhousing retention position shown in FIG. 10 (e.g., to protect the edgesof display 14 which might otherwise be exposed to damage) and may berotated about axis 72 in direction 76 when it is desired to releasedisplay 14 and housing 12 and thereby allow device 10 to be unfolded.

In the illustrative arrangement of FIG. 11, device 10 has planarportions E (e.g., left and right portions of housing 12) and a locallythinned interposed middle portion M. Movable supports 80 may be coupledusing springs 82. Display(s) 14 may be formed on the upper and/oropposing lower surfaces of housing 12. Device 10 can be folded andunfolded to move supports 80 within housing 12. When device 10 isfolded, portion M takes on a thickness DS that is less than thethickness DL of planar portions E. Supports 80 may have a height H thatis between DS and DL or other suitable height. The thinning of middleportion M of housing 12 when the upper and opposing lower surfaces ofdevice 10 in portion M are brought towards each other when device 10 isfolded about bend axis 84 squeezes supports 80 out of region M alongbend axis 84 and into regions E, as shown in FIG. 11. By moving supports80 (e.g., rigid support members such as supporting structures formedfrom plastic, metal, etc.) outwardly into portions E, the flexibility ofdevice 10 in region M is enhanced.

When device 10 is unfolded as shown in FIG. 12, middle region M becomesthicker (e.g., the thickness of middle region M may increase tothickness DL). This allows springs 82 to pull members 80 back intomiddle region M so that members 80 can support display 14 in a planarconfiguration in region M as shown in FIG. 12.

Another illustrative configuration for moving support members 80 withinhousing 12 is shown in FIGS. 13 and 14. In the unfolded arrangement ofFIG. 13, supports 80 may be pulled into middle region M by springs 82.Biasing member 86, which may be formed from a layer of material or otherstructure that elongates when bent and thinned, may press against theedge of supports 80. When device 10 is folded about bend axis 84 asshown in FIG. 14, end 90 of biasing member 86 may push members 80 awayfrom bend axis 84, out of middle region M, and into planar side region Ein direction 88, as shown in FIG. 14. In the example of FIGS. 13 and 14,only a single left-hand biasing member 86 and single set ofcorresponding right-hand support members 80 are depicted. Device 10 mayhave both right and left biasing members and both right-hand andleft-hand sets of support members 80 joined by springs 82 or otherflexible structures.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional side view of device 10 in an arrangement inwhich flexible display 14 may be scrolled and in which device 10 maycontain a separate rigid display. Internal roller 92 in housing 12 maybe used to store flexible display 14 when flexible display 14 is wrappedabout roller 92 and may be used to deploy flexible display 14 whenflexible display 14 is unwrapped from roller 92. Additional rollers maybe provided in housing 12 if desired.

End portion 12TB of housing 12 may be used to help a user pull out theend of display 14 when unwrapping display 14. Portion 12TB may be pulledout diagonally (as shown in FIG. 15) or may be pulled in otherdirections. For example, portion 12TB may be pulled out horizontallyfrom housing 12 in direction 94 as shown by portion 12TB″. When deployeddiagonally, display 14 may provide an expanded viewing area for a user(e.g., to display a document, web pages, and/or other content. Bistablemetal strips or other support structures may be used to hold flexibledisplay 14 in a desired position (e.g., in a position in which thedisplay and bistable strips extend at an angle relative to housing 12 asshown in FIG. 15, etc.

A rigid display (e.g., a touch screen display) such as rigid display 14Rmay be mounted on the front of housing 12. A virtual keyboard (e.g., aQWERTY keyboard or other keyboard) may be dynamically formed on touchscreen display 14R. Flexible display may be scrolled outwardly whenpulled out from housing 12 and may be maintained at a desired angle(e.g., a diagonal angle or other suitable angle with respect tohorizontal, as shown in FIG. 15). This allows display 14 to serve as anancillary display (e.g., to display documents, internet content, etc.)while display 14R is serving as a virtual keyboard or other touch screeninput device.

If desired, portion 12TB may be placed on end 96 of housing 12 as shownby portion 12TB′ so that flexible display 14 lies in position 14′. Inthis arrangement, the back surface of flexible display 14 forms aprotective cover for display 14R, while the pixels of flexible display14 that lie on the opposing surface of display 14 may face inwardlytowards display 14R. The outwardly facing rear (substrate) portion ofdisplay 14 may be free of sensitive pixel structures and may thereforeserve as an outwardly facing protective surface for device 10 whendisplay 14 is stowed in a position where pixel array 14P faces display14R, thereby preventing display 14R from becoming scratched. Magnets,fasteners, or other attachment mechanisms may be used to secure portion12TB′ to housing end 96.

Another illustrative arrangement for device 10 is shown in FIG. 16. Withthis configuration, a transparent window such as window 98 is formed inhousing 12. One or more rollers such as roller 100 may be used to storeflexible display 14 when display 14 is retracted into housing 12 and maybe used to deploy flexible display 14 when display 14 is pulledoutwardly in direction 102 using portion 104 of housing 12. In theretracted position, portion 104 of housing 12 may be retained at end 106of housing 12. In this position, a viewer such as viewer 54 may viewimages on the portion of display 14 that is overlapped by window 98.When extended, images on the extended portion may be viewed directionand images o the portion of display 14 remaining under window 98 may beviewed through window 98. Window 98, which may sometimes be referred toas a transparent housing window or transparent display window, may beformed from transparent materials such as clear glass, clear plastic,clear ceramic, sapphire or other transparent crystalline material, orother suitable transparent material. Components 44 (e.g., integratedcircuits, batteries, etc.) may be mounted on a printed circuit boardsuch as printed circuit board 108 or other substrate.

As shown in FIG. 17, device 10 may have multiple rollers (e.g., two ormore rollers, three or more rollers, four or more rollers, fewer thanten rollers, or other suitable number of rollers). In the example ofFIG. 17, device 10 has four rollers: deployment rollers 100A, 100C, and100D and storage roller 100B. When portion 104 of housing 12 is pulledaway from device 10 in direction 102, flexible display 14 will scrollout of housing 12. A portion of display 14 that is overlapped by window98 may be viewed after the remainder of display 14 has been pulled outof housing 12 to enlarge the effective viewing area for viewer 54.Because flexible display 14 follows a meandering path about the rollersin the interior of housing 12, the size of display 14 can be enhancedwithout overly enlarging the diameter of storage roller 100B. Thisallows the thickness of device 10 to be minimized.

Electronic devices with multiple rollers such as electronic device 10 ofFIG. 17 and/or other devices 10 with internal storage rollers may, ifdesired, be provided with supporting members such as elongated bistablesupport members (e.g., strips of flexible tape such as structures 32 ofFIGS. 3 and 4). The supporting members may run along the edges ofdisplay 14 (e.g., inactive display portions) as described in connectionwith FIGS. 3 and 4 and/or may be overlapped by active portions ofdisplay 14. As described in connection with FIG. 5, magnets 40 that aresupported on housing 12 at the end of each roller may be used to helptension display 14 outwardly by magnetically attracting the bistablesupport members. In this type of arrangement, the bistable supportmembers may be formed from material that is magnetically attracted tomagnets 40 (e.g., a magnetic metal such as steel).

The end of display 14 of FIG. 17 and the other FIGS. may have wirelesscircuitry such as circuitry 44R of FIG. 6 that communicates withwireless circuitry such as wireless circuitry such as wireless circuitry44T of FIG. 6. Circuitry 44T and other circuitry 44 may be mounted inhousing 12 of FIG. 17 or other device housing structures. This type ofwireless circuit arrangement may also be used in configurations fordevice 10 of the type shown in FIGS. 15 and 16 and/or the devicearrangements of the other FIGS.

In general, device 10 may have any suitable size. The lateral dimensionsof device 10 may, for example be 1-100 cm, 10-1000 cm, more than 1000cm, less than 500 cm, less than 25 cm, less than 5 cm, less than 1 cm,or other suitable dimensions. The thickness of device 10 (e.g., theunfolded thickness of a folding housing device) may be, for example1-100 mm, more than 2 mm, more than 3 mm, more than 5 mm, less than 30mm, less than 15 mm, less than 9 mm, less than 5 mm, less than 4 mm,less than 3 mm, less than 1 mm, or other suitable thickness.

The foregoing is merely illustrative and various modifications can bemade to the described embodiments. The foregoing embodiments may beimplemented individually or in any combination.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device, comprising: a housinghaving a first portion and a second portion and having a window betweenthe first portion and the second portion; a roller in the first portionof the housing; and a flexible display having a first edge coupled tothe roller and a second edge coupled to the second portion of thehousing, wherein the flexible display is configured to move from anunrolled state to a rolled state as it is wrapped around the roller, thefirst and second portions of the housing are separated by a gap when theflexible display is in the unrolled state, the first portion of thehousing contacts the second portion of the housing when the flexibledisplay is in the rolled state, the flexible display has an array ofpixels, and a portion of the array of pixels is visible through thewindow when the flexible display is in the rolled state.
 2. Theelectronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the flexible display hasthird and fourth edges that extend between the first and second edges,the electronic device further comprising: first and second supportmembers that respectively run along the third and fourth edges.
 3. Theelectronic device defined in claim 2 wherein the first and secondsupport members are bistable support members.
 4. The electronic devicedefined in claim 3 wherein the bistable support members wrap around theroller when the flexible display is in the rolled state.
 5. Theelectronic device defined in claim 4 further comprising magnets coupledto the housing that attract the bistable support members, wherein thebistable support members are stiff in a first position to support theflexible display in the unrolled state and wherein the bistable supportmembers are flexible in a second position to wrap around the roller. 6.The electronic device defined in claim 2 wherein the first and secondsupport members are metal strips that run along the third and fourthedges.
 7. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the roller isone of a plurality of rollers between the first and second surfaces andwherein the flexible display is configured to contact each roller of theplurality of rollers.
 8. The electronic device defined in claim 7further comprising: a printed circuit board inside one of the pluralityof rollers; and components mounted to the printed circuit board.
 9. Theelectronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising: a wirelesstransmitter circuit in the housing; display driver circuitry coupled tothe pixel array; and a wireless receiver circuit coupled to the displaydriver circuitry, wherein the wireless receiver circuit is configured toreceive image data from the wireless transmitter circuit and wherein thedisplay driver circuitry is configured to display images on the pixelarray based on the image data.
 10. The electronic device defined inclaim 9 wherein the wireless transmitter circuit is in the first housingportion and wherein the wireless receiver unit is in the second housingportion.
 11. An electronic device, comprising: a housing having asurface with an opening; a roller in the housing; a flexible displaycoupled to the roller and configured be rolled around the roller in arolled state and to be unrolled out of the opening in the housing in anunrolled state, wherein the flexible display has first and second edges;and support structures that run along the first and second edges andthat are configured to maintain the flexible display at an anglerelative to the housing when the flexible display is in the unrolledstate.
 12. The electronic device defined in claim 11 wherein the housingcomprises a first housing portion that houses the display and a secondhousing portion attached to the flexible display.
 13. The electronicdevice defined in claim 12 wherein the second housing portion is an endportion on the first edge of the flexible display and wherein the endportion is configured to fill the opening in the housing when theflexible display is in the rolled state.
 14. The electronic devicedefined in claim 11 wherein the support structures are metal supportstructures.
 15. The electronic device defined in claim 14 wherein themetal support structures are configured to maintain the flexible displayat a vertical angle relative to the housing.
 16. The electronic devicedefined in claim 15 wherein the metal support structures are bistableand are configured to wrap around the roller when the flexible displayis in the rolled state.
 17. An electronic device, comprising: a housing;a roller in the housing; a flexible display coupled to the roller andconfigured be rolled around the roller to move from an unrolled state toa rolled state; and an electronic component within the roller.
 18. Theelectronic device defined in claim 17 wherein the electronic componentis selected from the group of components consisting of: an integratedcircuit and a battery.
 19. The electronic device defined in claim 18wherein the flexible display has edges that extend perpendicular to thehousing, the electronic device further comprising: metal supportstructures that run along the edges of the flexible display.
 20. Theelectronic device defined in claim 19 wherein the metal supportstructures are bistable and are configured to wrap around the rollerwhen the flexible display is in the rolled state.